Stellar Revolution

Chapter 1: Final Exam The man stood in the darkened room, nervously awaiting the events to come. His compact body, product of a high-gravity world, was clad in a skin-tight bodysuit that allowed maximum freedom of movement. He’d spent the past four months preparing for this moment, and now all his acquired knowledge would be put to the ultimate test. For better or worse, the outcome of this trial would affect the rest of his career. His lips were dry, no matter how often he extended his tongue to moisten them. Suddenly a bright light shone straight into his eyes. Even as he blinked, some instinct told him he was an easy target standing up here in the glare. Without even knowing where he was going, he crouched and sprang forward in the direction of the light. As he did so, he heard the buzzing sound of a stinger, but felt none of the effects. Had he remained where he was, the test would have been over the instant it had begun. Now that he was moving, he realized his only hope of passing was to remain in motion. There’d be more traps ahead to overcome, and he dared not slow down to let them reach him. Safety, he’d been taught, lay in speed. But not blind speed; his reflexes had to be in a complete linkage with his brain to achieve the finesse that many delicate situations required. He had to think as he moved, so thought and deed could be accomplished as close to simultaneously as possible. He knew of only one thing in this darkness besides himself—the light that was still shining almost directly into his eyes. As long as that light was on him he’d be in constant danger. It made sense, therefore, to move toward the light and put it out of commission before the stinger’s owner put him out of commission. His forward leap brought him down on his right shoulder. He rolled as he’d been taught and came up in a low crouch, prepared to move again. He took a few quick steps to his right, then zigzagged back to his left. The short buzzes of the stinger kept sounding out, proving he was far from home-free—but by keeping his movements random, his would-be destroyer was unable to hit him. The light was much closer now. One more small leap took him to a point just beside it. It turned out to be a small spotlight some thirty centimeters in diameter. Lifting his foot in an arc that would have made a ballet dancer jealous, he gave the bulb a vicious kick. The plastic covering shattered and the light burned out instantly, leaving him once more in a darkness broken only by the blue afterimage of the spotlight. The sound of the stinger ceased with the extinguishing of the light. The man on trial moved away from the spotlight once more and paused for a few deep breaths, waiting for the next development to break. He didn’t have to wait long. Lights came on all around him—not the blinding glare of a spotlight, but a diffuse glow that illuminated all the surroundings. The man blinked and looked suspiciously around. To his left, the room he’d just traversed to reach the spotlight was still dark. Before him was a corridor three meters wide and about forty long. At the far end was a doorway to another room. The walls on either side of the corridor were six meters high—too tall for him to jump over even in this gravity that was only forty percent of what he considered normal. There were only two directions he could move—either back the way he’d come or down this new corridor. The decision was made for him by a beamer bolt that sizzled the air and burned into the ground at his feet. It came out of the blackness he’d just left; flying into the face of that kind of armament was tantamount to suicide. Without hesitation, the man chose to run down the corridor. This path was scarcely safe either, though. He’d hardly begun to traverse it when he found objects springing up in his way. First a pile of boxes rose from the floor, completely blocking the path. There was no way to go around them, so he began climbing over the pile. To complicate matters still further, light beams seared out at him. They were intended to simulate beamer bolts, and the man got the message instantly. There was to be no tarrying in this corridor, either. His climb became a scramble as he finally reached the top of the pile of boxes. Not standing on ceremony, he jumped down to the ground again, narrowly missing the row of sharp knives that sprang up from the ground just as he leaped. More of the light beams were firing at him, making a realistic crackling sound as they passed by. He ran at top speed, his eyes surveying the path before him in a series of darting glances. He’d gone nearly ten meters without further incident when he noticed one patch of flooring was a slightly different color than the rest. In midstride just before he reached it, his back foot kicked out, lifting him in an off-balance leap over the one-meter patch of discoloration. He landed awkwardly on the other side, scrambled to his feet and continued on before the light beams had a chance to zero in on him. In one desperate dash he made it the rest of the way down the corridor and turned to the right through the doorway into the next room. Without warning he felt the ground go out from under him. As he fell, he hit a body of water with an enormous splash. He submerged for an instant, then came up gasping for air. The water was icy, a cold shock to his tensed nervous system. It left a briny taste on his tongue and stung at his eyes as he tried to look around and get his bearings in this new environment. The room was dimmer than the corridor had been, but still light enough to see by. The door through which he’d entered had slid automatically shut, and the ceiling had lowered to just half a meter above the surface of the water, barely room for him to lift his head out and breathe. The walls were perfectly smooth, without a break or a handhold in them. There was no sign of an exit anywhere. The man continued treading water as he puzzled out this dilemma. There had to be some way out of here; if it wasn’t above water, then it must be below. Taking a deep breath, he dipped below the surface to search for the exit. The salt water stung his eyes, so he’d to proceed by feel. The room was small, basically a cube three meters on a side and all but filled with water. But the water couldn’t occur here naturally; it had to come in from somewhere. He searched with his fingers for the vent. There! His hands had been passing over the smooth surface of the walls when suddenly they encountered an empty space. Taking his time to explore the opening fully, he ran his fingers around the edge. The hole wasn’t quite a meter wide and less than half of that high. It would be a tight squeeze, but he could manage to get out of there. He surfaced once more for another gasp of air, then dived and pushed himself through the opening. At first, this narrow passageway continued level, and he despaired of its going anywhere. But after a couple of meters it started sloping upward. Finally his head broke the surface once more and he could breathe sweet, fresh air. Feeling both mentally and physically exhausted, he dragged himself up the ramp onto a dry floor, dreading whatever ordeal might be next in store for him. There was only one door in the room, twenty meters away. Unless he chose to return to the water he’d have to go that way. With a sigh he set out—but, though the room was bare of furnishings, it wasn’t as easy to cross as it first appeared. An artigrav unit had been planted under the floor, causing a gravity gradient as he approached the door. Where he’d emerged from the water the force was only one Earth gravity, but it rose quickly as he moved. Within only a couple of meters it was up to two and a half gravities. That in itself wouldn’t have been too bad, because that was the gravitational strength on his native world—but it went up still further as he progressed. Within another few meters it was up to five gees, and the doorway looked no nearer than it had before. He felt he had a twin brother riding on his back. Coming on top of all his previous exertions, this was an added torture. Keeping his head up was a major effort; moving his limbs was a near miracle. He moved with a relentless determination to reach the portal. Once there, he was sure, the artigrav would shut off and he’d return to Earth standard gravity. He didn’t care what other traps might await him there; they couldn’t be any worse than this. Still the gravity increased, and he sank slowly to his knees to crawl forward. Although the floor looked perfectly level, it felt uphill all the way. At seven gravities his eyes refused to focus. He continued forward out of habit and willpower, rather than by any conscious plan. Even holding himself up on his hands and knees seemed too much of an effort. He slid down on his belly and pulled himself along. Sometimes he felt he was barely making any progress at all—but he did move forward, however slowly. After a dozen eons the force on his body suddenly eased. Startled, he looked around and found he’d passed through the doorway into a well-lit room beyond. There were two chairs and a desk there, with the desk’s top a built-in computer monitor. Before him stood his teacher, Comrade Ivanova. “Congratulations,” Ivanova said with typical curtness. “You seem to have made it in one piece.” She extended a hand to the man’s prostrate form. “Would you like some help up?” “No, thanks. I can manage.” The testee pulled himself shakily to his feet and, at his teacher’s nod, walked over to one of the chairs and sat down. Ivanova took the other chair and started glancing through the computer’s files. “Now for the evaluation,” she said. “You didn’t do too badly, actually. You made very good time against the spotlight. You were a bit clumsy jumping over the electrified plate in lap two, but results are more important than form in something like that. You were quick to find your way out of the water chamber, and you had the stamina to pull your way through the grav room. Which leaves only—” And before she’d said another word she pulled a beamer from a concealed holster. Her face was as stern and ruthless as it had ever been in training, looking like she’d love nothing better than to direct a beamer bolt straight through her student’s heart. Tired though he was, the testee reacted to this new and totally unexpected threat. All through his training, his teachers had warned him against complacency. “Expect anything at any time,” they told him. “In our business, you won’t go far wrong that way.” From a totally relaxed position, the testee quickly pushed his chair backward and rolled under the desk. Arching his back upwards, he lifted the entire desk off the floor and slammed it into his instructor. Ivanova was prepared for the trouble and knew how to fall. The beamer flew from her hand and landed on the far side of the room. Both people scrambled for it, but the student got there first. Picking up the weapon, he aimed it squarely at his teacher. “Smooth,” he said between pants, “maybe now you’ll tell me what’s going on.” *** In the control center, a host of technicians kept a careful watch on the events of the test, making sure everything started when it should and that nothing, no matter how dangerous it seemed, would cause any serious harm to the participant. The purpose wasn’t to kill him, but to discover exactly what his capabilities were in field action. The Imperial Special Information Service had to know what its agents could do before it sent them on their assignments. With the safety and security of the Empire at stake, it could hardly afford any miscalculations. Overlooking the rows of technicians was a VIP booth, where special visitors could also witness the proceedings. At present there were three very interested spectators: two women and a man. One of the women was a tall, slender aristocrat. Hasina Wettig was the daughter of, and chief assistant to, the Commissar of ISIS. Despite being only twenty-six years old, she was rapidly maturing into one of the most capable planners and administrators the Service had ever seen—thanks to her father’s able tutelage. Hasina owed her life to the man now being tested, and no power in the universe would have kept her away from observing his final tests. The other two people in the booth were similarly indebted to the young man and likewise had a great deal of interest in the outcome. Judah and Eva Bar Nahum, the team of cousins from the heavy gravity planet New Zion, were top agents in ISIS’s arsenal. Not only were they naturally strong and quick, as people from high-grav worlds had to be, but they’d had a rigorous training as the star dancers of Le Vaudeville Galactique—the top touring entertainment attraction in the Empire. Their parents had also been ISIS’s top secret agent teams a generation ago and now these two were carrying on in that proud family tradition. They didn’t look physically imposing. Judah Bar Nahum stood only a hundred and seventy-three centimeters tall, though he massed a respectable hundred kilograms; his cousin Eva was ten centimeters shorter and thirty kilos lighter. But the two of them were in a more superb condition, both mentally and physically, than any mere mortal had a right to expect. Now they watched eagerly as their friend, Pias Bavol, went through the final stages of his training. Although they’d met him less than five months ago, the young man had won their friendship and, indeed, saved their lives in a couple of situations on their last assignment. Though he hadn’t had the lifetime background in undercover work that they did, he showed such a proclivity for it that induction into the Service was a logical result. The fact that he and Eva had fallen in love and were going to be married made it a necessary result as well. The three spectators watched anxiously in the tridee tank as Pias Bavol began his ordeal. Each of the three had also undergone this test and knew exactly how harrowing it could be. There was no passing or failing mark; Pias Bavol had already done well enough on the aptitude tests to qualify for a good job with the Service. This test, though, would be crucial to his ultimate placement. If he ranked low in field skills, he might only be assigned to some less demanding job in administration. Only the select few who could handle themselves well under such arduous conditions could be allowed to undertake field assignments that might put their lives in peril. Hasina laid a hand gently on Eva’s shoulder. “I hope he makes it,” she said. “I know you’d like to have him working with you in the field rather than staying at a desk job while you go out on assignments.” Eva nodded. “He’ll be smooth, I’m sure. Anyone who could get to Sanctuary and do everything he did without any formal training at all just has to be a natural-born field agent.” But her words projected more confidence than she actually felt. “In a way, I almost hope he doesn’t make it,” Judah said softly. His cousin turned to look at him aghast. “Jude, what a rotten thing to say! Are you jealous?” Judah smiled at her, defusing her powder keg. “Damned right I am. You and I are the best team going, and I hate the thought of splitting it up.” “You mean to say you object to teaming up with Vida?” Eva countered. A dopey grin appeared on Judah’s face at the mere thought of his fiancée, Vida Ha’Levy. “Well, I must admit there will be certain compensations ....” Eva gave him a triumphant snort. “I thought as much. But you’d better watch out. Whenever you’re with her you keep stumbling over your own feet because you can’t look at anything else. Some team you’ll make.” Hasina interrupted to bring an end to this good-natured banter. “It’s starting,” she said simply. Judah and Eva turned their attentions back to the tridee tank. They watched as Pias Bavol survived his first encounter with the spotlight in the darkened room and then made his way rapidly down the long, treacherous corridor. “Good!” Eva called out at one point. “I knew he’d spot that electrified plate. He’s going to make it, Jude, he’s going to make it.” Judah nodded slowly. There’d never been any doubt in his mind about Pias’s abilities. “If he does well enough,” Hasina commented, “my father has a personal gift for you and him, Eva—two round-trip tickets to Newforest.” Eva turned away from the tank for a moment to stare at her friend open-mouthed. Newforest was Pias’s home planet; he was the eldest son of that world’s graf. Pias hadn’t been home for close to three years, ever since he’d left to seek revenge for the death of his former fiancée. Now Eva would be returning with him in triumph, to meet his family and share that much more a part of his life. “Oh Hasina, I don’t know what to say.” “Then watch the tank and don’t say anything. Father knew how grateful you’d be. It’s part of his thanks to you and Pias for saving my life on Sanctuary. And my thanks too, of course.” Eva looked back to the tank, where Pias was now immersed in water and looking for a way out. It was Judah’s turn to look at Hasina. “I saved your life, too,” he said with mock jealousy. “Don’t I get any paid vacations?” “I think Father has something in mind for you—maybe not as much fun, but just as easy. He’ll be calling you in to tell you about it tomorrow. Now shut up and let me see how Pias is making out.” The three young people watched and chortled triumphantly as their friend found his way out through the pipe into the gravity chamber. As he made his tedious way to the exit, all three were groaning in sympathy, shouting encouragement they knew he couldn’t hear. When he finally made it through the portal, Eva let out a small cheer. “Only one more to go,” she whispered. “Please don’t let him be fooled.” They watched with bated breath as the final scene between Pias and his instructor played itself out. As Pias grabbed the gun and turned it on Ivanova, Eva sagged in her chair with visible relief. Hasina leaned forward and input commands in the console before her. Her computer screen went blank, and a moment later a series of numbers appeared. “Would you like to see how he made out?” she asked her two friends. “I’m almost afraid to,” Eva said—but she looked anyway. There were several rows of numbers on the screen, indicating Pias’s scores on separate parts of the test. Eva ignored those and, instead, checked only the bottom line: “Field rating 94%.” With a whoop of pure joy, Eva bounded out of her chair and through the door leading downstairs to the evaluation room where she could see her lover again. “I think we’d better follow after her,” Judah said in a more restrained but still jubilant voice, “before she hurts herself.” He and Hasina left the room at a saner pace, listening to the echoes of Eva’s footsteps leading the way. Back down in the room, Pias was still holding the gun warily on Ivanova. A loudspeaker blared mechanically out of the wall, “This section of the test is over. Applicant is to proceed to Evaluation Room for final processing.” Ivanova smiled at his student—a smile that was very uncharacteristic for her. “It’s over now. Sorry to have to do that, but it is a necessary part of the test. In our business you can’t really trust anyone completely.” “Then how do I know to trust you now?” Pias wasn’t about to let go of the gun. “You can shoot me if you like. The gun doesn’t work. I’m just going to stay here while you go through that door. I’m told there’ll be someone there who may convince you.” Pias backed carefully to the door, not taking his eyes off Ivanova until he reached it. Then, as a test, he aimed the beamer at the floor and fired. Nothing happened. With a grin, he tossed the beamer lightly back to his teacher. “Thanks for all you’ve taught me,” he said, then turned and went through the door. Almost immediately he was being smothered by a passionate female form. “Hey, I thought the test was over,” he protested. “I didn’t know I’d have to risk being kissed to death too.” “You’re all wet—literally,” Eva laughed between kisses. “It’s a good thing I love you so much, you sopping specimen of humanity.” She went right back to kissing him and Pias, despite his general fatigue, resigned himself to his fate. If he were going to be kissed, he might as well enjoy it.